Box loom



Jan. 5, 1969 J. R. BRANDON 2,919,723

BOX LOOM Filed Jan. 8, 1958 INVENTOR J.R. BRANDON ATTORNEYS United States Patent BOX LOOM John R. Brandon, Cramerton, N.C., assignor to Burlington Industries, Inc., Greensboro, N.C., a corporation of Delaware Application January 8, 1958, Serial No. 707,763

2 Claims. (Cl. 139-1705) This invention relates to the textile art and in particular to looms of the type provided with a shuttle box or magazine for carrying a plurality of shuttles. Such looms, for convenience and for the purpose of this deseription, will be hereinafter designated multiple box looms.

A serious problem in multiple box looms is that a Weft thread or threads trailing loosely from an inactive shuttle or shuttles, i.e., between the shuttle box and the selvage of the fabric or cloth, may be caught by the active shuttle and accidentally jerked or drawn therewith. Should this occur, the weaving operation will be impaired and undesirable consequences, such as machine stoppage and irregularity of the pattern, frequently result. For convenience, this undesirable movement of the loose weft threads will be occasionally referred to hereinafter as jerking in, and such loose threads may be designated filling ends, also for convenience.

Some devices for solving this particular problem have been heretofore proposed. However, such devices for one reason or another are not considered to be completely satisfactory. For example, it 'is usually contemplated in such devices that the filling ends be engaged by or contact some physical object or structure, which could damage or fray the Weft threads.

Accordingly, it is the primary object of this invention to develop a new and improved arrangement designed to satisfactorily eliminate the danger of jerking in filling ends, involved in the operation of multiple box looms;

A further object resides in the provision of a novel and simplified structural arrangement for multiple box looms and particularly adapted to positively insure disposition of the filling ends safely and desirably out of the path of the active shuttle,

Still another object is to provide an inexpensive device for carrying out the foregoing objects and capable of being conveniently and simply installed in existing machines.

The invention contemplates the provision, in multiple box looms, of means for creating a forced jet of air directed generally longitudinally (i.e., parallel to the warp) and between the selvage and shuttle box so that the loose filling ends will be forced thereby safely out of the path of the active shuttle. It is further within the contemplation of the invention that during operation of the loom provided with such a means, the loose filling ends will not be engaged by or otherwise contact any physical object or structure,

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be in part obvious and in part pointed out hereinafter.

The novel features of the invention may be best made clear from the following description and accompanying drawing in which:

A multiple box loom embodying the invention is shown fragmentarily in a perspective and schematic view, certain conventional parts of the loom being omitted for purposes of convenience and clarity and of illustration.

In the drawing, there is shown a conventional multiple box loom 10 to which the novel means or anti-jerk-in attachment of the invention may be applied. Only those parts of the loom deemed to be necessary and/or desirable for a proper understanding of the invention have been illustrated, somewhat in schematic form. However,

those portions of the general and more specificstructural organizations of conventional multiple box looms, which have not been illustrated, will be understood by those skilled in the art; hence, for the purpose of facilitating the understanding of the invention and simplifying the present disclosure, the loom 10 has been shown in simpli fied form and with certain parts omitted As is conventional, the box loom 10. includes! the heddles 12; reed 14; lay 16 including the race plate 18 and sword 19; temple 20; shuttle box 22; and shuttles 24. These parts may be of any suitable construction and. are associated with each other and the various'non-illus' trated portions of the loom in any suitable manner. Reed 14 may be engaged to the lay 16 in any desirable fashion,

such as that shown wherein bar 15 of the reed is mounted in a groove or recess 17 in the lay; and sword 19 mayappreciated that a plurality of the same are normally carried by a suitable number of harnesses (not shown);

When two harnesses are used, alternate warp threads 26 will pass through successive heddles in alternate harnesses, in the manner suggested in the drawing, whereby a shed 28 may be formed in the warp threads as the harnesses are reciprocated vertically in conventional manner.

These warp threads are normally unwound from a beam (not shown), suitably journalled in the loom frame (also not shown), and they extend through succesive dents formed by the wires of reed 14, as shown, and then pass over the race plate 18. The number and arrangement of Warp threads used may be varied for the particular fabric or cloth and size thereof desired, such fabric being indicated in the drawing in. phantom, and identified by numeral 29.

The shuttle box 22 may be divided vertically into com partments such as by the horizontal partition walls 25. Each of the shuttles 24 is arranged in a separate compartment in the box, as shown, and carries a weft thread 30 which defines a fillingend between thezadjacent sewageof the fabric 29 and the respective shuttle in the box. As will be understood, the shuttles 24 are individually movable in predetermined sequence from an inactive condi tion within the box 22, to an active condition wherein they will separately and individually traverse the warp threads 26, passing through the shed 28, and travelling over the lay 16 on the race plate 18. As is well known, suitable structure (not shown) is provided at the end of the race plate opposite box 22 for receiving the active shuttle and for subsequently returning it to its compart ment in box 22, the return movement of the shuttle taking place after the shed has been closed by suitable movement of the harnesses and also after the reed 14 has been first moved forward to force'the weft thread into the fell of the fabric and then returned to its original position. The means for moving the shuttles back and forth are not shown but may be of any conventional form.

The desired fabric formed by this repeated, traversing movement of the shuttles in predetermined or preselected order, will pass through the temple 20, in the manner Patented Jan. 5,1960".

d2 indicatedin the drawingand will be collected or gathered in any desirable manner, as on a suitable roll (not shown).

During operation of the loom, the filling ends 36 on the inactive shuttles 24, between such shuttles and the adjacent selvage of the fabric, will normally be in a somewhat slackened or loose condition so that there is the danger that one or more of such loose ends may undesirably and unintentionally lie in the path of movement of the shuttles and be dragged or jerked in by an active or working shuttle. In accordance with this invention, blower means are interposed between the shuttle box 22 and the adjacent selvage of the fabric, such means being operative to positively displace the filling ends away from the path of the active shuttle. This blower means pref erably is constructed and arranged to discharge a jet of air parallel to the warp threads 25 and passing from one side of the lay 16 to the other side, said jet of air being so directed that it will move the filling ends 30 to a safe, out of the way position, without involving physical contact between the filling ends and any structure.

In the illustrative embodiment of the invention, this. blower means is indicated by numeral 32 and may be of the impeller type shown, wherein the impeller or rotor 34v is rotatably mounted within a circular housing or scroll 36, the latter having associated therewith an axial inlet opening 38 and a tangential discharge conduit or nozzle 40 terminating in outlet opening 42. Any suitable power means or prime mover, such as that indicated by numeral 44 is suitably drivingly connected to the impeller 34.

Blower means 32 preferably is disposed in the relative position shown by appropriate mounting engagement to the lay 16. For example, the discharge conduit 40 may be connected to the side of sword 19 as by bolt 44 extending therethrough, as indicated, with the discharge opening 42 substantially flush with the front face of the sword. Lay 16 preferably is formed with a transverse groove or slot 46 therein, with which the discharge conduit 40 of the blower means is aligned, whereby the dis charge opening 42 may extend somewhat below the top of the race plate 18 and lay 16, as'shown. The elongated. configuration of opening 42 renders it possible for the discharging jet of air to encompass an optimum range.

By virtue of the construction and arrangement of the blower means, rotation of the impeller 34 in the direction indicated by the arrow will be efiective to. produce a jet of air under pressure discharging from opening 42 on one side of the lay and passing to the other side where it will operate to push and retain the filling ends 30 of the inactive shuttles in a position safely out of the path taken by an active shuttle. This force stream of air, while sutficient to efiect desired movement of the filling ends 30 to a relatively taut position, will not be sufiicient to impair or impede the desired movement of the shuttles and associated weft threads when the shuttles are activated. The slot 46, among other things, promotes dispersion of the jet over a desirable range to assure effective and complete removal of all of the filling ends to a safe position.

It should be evident that blower constructions for discharging air under pressure, other than the specific impeller type shown, may be substituted therefor. However, it is an important aspect of the invention that the stream of air be discharged in the manner indicated to desirably tension the filling ends 30 away from the lay 16 without involving contact of such filling ends with any physical structure.

It should also be evident that the invention will be ap' plicable to looms having multiple shuttle boxes or magazines of a construction and configuration different from that of box 22 indicated in the drawing.

Some of the advantages of the invention, other than those already alluded to, are the following: the blower means can be conveniently and readily attached in desired position for movement with the lay, with there being. no danger of the lay striking the blower during lay reciprocation; by suitable design of outlet opening 42 and conduit the dimensions and flow characteristics of the jet of air can be desirably predetermined; and by having the blower outlet 42 on the opposite side of the lay, there will be no danger of undesirable contact of the blower with the filling ends 30 when the lay is moved toward the position of the temple 20 shown.

The present invention will thus be seen to completely and effectively accomplish the objects enumerated hereinabove. It will be realized, however, that various changes and substitutions may be made to the specific embodiments disclosed herein for the purpose of illustrating the principles of this invention, without departing from these principles. Therefore, this invention includes all modifications encompassed within the spirit and scope of the following claims.

Iclaim:

1.. In an apparatus of the character described, means for holding a plurality of warp threads, means for weaving weft threads with said warp threads for forming a fabric, said weaving means, including; a lay, shuttle box,

a plurality of shuttles arranged in said box and individu-- References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Payne Oct. 14, 1941 Moseley et al Sept. 11, 1956 

